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monavano

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chocolate angel food cake.

from a recipe from sally schneider's "a new way to cook," which in turn was taken from rose levy barenbaum.

my wife baked the cake, and i haven't compared the recipes, but the revamped version seems about the same as the original, with the addition of some instant espresso and cognac/armagnac. those, plus cocoa powder, are intended to temper the sweetness. more sugar is called for than in a regular cake to stabilize the egg whites. the recipe uses the whites from 16 extra large eggs.

the idea behind schneider's book is to suggest imperceptible changes that result in healthier, less fattening dishes, but in this case i believe it's a matter of proposing a cake that by its very nature is fat-free, not in altering anything. of course, this leaves you with 16 big egg yolks, and that, in a way, can defeat the purpose, unless you chuck them. that may be the only healthy alternative in a household with two adults who wouldn't ordinarily have the need to work this much egg yolk into their cooking for quite some time.

some people don't like angel food cake, i know, for the texture, i guess, which is moist and light, but not light as an angel feather, and not exactly light as a sponge either, although this is a cake that feels like it can be wrung out. there is what might be described as a characteristic faint chalkiness. anyway, it's a unique flavor that goes back to my childhood and i have always liked.

the chocolate in this cake is quite constrained compared to a truly chocolate cake, and this cake isn't radically different from angel food that relies solely on vanilla flavoring. either go well with strawberries, and since they are sweet, they can compensate for early strawberries that tend to be less sweet than those that come in when the sun is stronger.

also in the ambrosial dessert department, i love the old-fashioned tapioca recipe that is based on egg whites, a predilection i realize many people do not share.

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Our planned day of sailing got rained out, so we hung around the house and I baked oatmeal/chocolate chunk/dried cranberry cookies instead. I used the recipe from America's Test Kitchen's "Baking Illustrated," using allspice instead of nutmeg and a mix of chopped Baker's semisweet (it was all I had!) and dried cranberries. They were delicious, especially with Earl Grey tea.

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Chocolate chip cookies. There's nothing really noteworthy about that other than it's the first thing I've baked in the new kitchen, and the first time I've baked since January, other than a batch of brownies in the old oven while it lived in the laundry room. It's good to be back in the saddle.

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Chocolate chip cookies. There's nothing really noteworthy about that other than it's the first thing I've baked in the new kitchen, and the first time I've baked since January, other than a batch of brownies in the old oven while it lived in the laundry room. It's good to be back in the saddle.

Photos? How are you enjoying it?

I made (yet another) loaf of almost no-knead bread, but spiced it up a bit with gorgonzola.

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After looking at Porcupine's new kitchen, I went into mine, kicked my stove, and baked Maida Heatter's Date Nut Extra. It's a date-nut bread with bananas and applesauce, although I used jam and adjusted the sugar accordingly. Mmmmmmm. Perfect for a long,relaxing weekend. And I am almost over my kitchen envy.

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. And I am almost over my kitchen envy.

I'll trade with you and/or Zora - you can have my kitchen if I can have your talent.

BTW, is anyone out there interested in taking a puff pastry class from Ann Amernick some weekday in mid-June? lperry and I are going, and there is space for two more. Date hasn't been set yet.

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A cookie called "brussels", from Ann Amernick's The Art of the Dessert. And like with the other cookie recipe in that book I've made, there has got to be a typo. The recipe says 250 degrees; I ignored that, baked them at 350, and they came out fine.

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Coco-nana bread from Dorie Greenspan. I actually followed the recipe, which is unusual for me, although I did sub out half the flour with white whole-wheat. And I used dark cocoa instead of semisweet because that's what I had. Next time I'll put in a little more salt and some cayenne.

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I really like it. I find it easier to work with than an all-butter crust. In mixing, it seems to come together more easily, and it rolls out really well. It makes a nice flavor match with apple crumb pie. I hope it will go well in the peach pie, too.

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I really like it. I find it easier to work with than an all-butter crust. In mixing, it seems to come together more easily, and it rolls out really well. It makes a nice flavor match with apple crumb pie. I hope it will go well in the peach pie, too.

It does. She uses it for her peach pie.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2008/07/16/perfect-peach-pie/

That's from one of the articles where they got chefs to teach people to cook. Cherry, pecan, and peach, all with the cream cheese crust.

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Works for rugelach, right? I can't come up with a reason why it'd be bad with any fruit, honestly.

I use the dough scraps for something like rugelach. Never had any complaints.

Never had any left for any length of time, either.

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I used the same recipe for strawberry banana nut muffins for this batch of mini muffins that I made today, using Westmorland Berry Farm blackberries and blueberries. Also tossed in 2 bananas. No nuts today.

Nice photos, as always :D. i made some tasty mini blueberry muffins earlier. Still trying to get the muffin tins clean :) .

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This morning I baked, by request, a blueberry birthday pie. I used a new pie dough that has an egg in it, and was pretty happy with the results. Because the oven was on, I also made a jam cake for breakfast this week.

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I'd NEVER baked cupcakes before & had only baked a couple of cakes in my life (I'm more of a cook than a baker), but this past Father's Day, I decided to surprise my boyfriend & his Dad & their family with a CUPCAKE TASTING. Held just like a wine tasting, I had score cards made up with categories such as: overall taste, texture, toppings, fillings & room for comments. I made 6 different types of cupcakes, all with a dark chocolate cake base (we all love dark chocolate) & I decided to add toppings & fillings that were odd or appealed more to adults. Given that my boyfriend's Mom is a lifelong baker & used to bake bread for the Governor of Maine, this was a risky & ambitious venture on my part.

I made Dark Chocolate Cupcakes filled & topped with:

1 - Colombian Arequipe (aka Dulce De Leche) & Sea Salt

2 - Chopped Candied Ginger, Cream Cheese Frosting, chopped Georgian Walnuts (from the Republic of Georgia, which my boyfriend's Mom brought back) & Cinnamon

3 - Key Lime Marmalade & chopped Thai Lime & Chili Cashews

4 - Candied & Spicy Pecans & Cream Cheese Frosting

5 - Tart Michigan Cherry Compote, Cream Cheese Frosting & chopped Georgian Walnuts

6 - Bacon crumbles & glazed the top with Maple syrup

Given how rich, sweet & spicy they were, I cut each cupcake into quarters & gave everyone only a quarter cupcake of each flavor to taste & judge. We definitely needed a glass of water nearby to clear our palates between cupcakes. All of them got high scores, but the FAVORITES (in order of taste & originality) were the Key Lime Marmalade w/ chopped Thai Lime & Chili Cashews, Colombian Arequipe (Dulce De Leche) & Sea Salt, Candied Spicy Pecans & Cream Cheese Frosting, Candied Ginger & Walnuts, Bacon & Maple Syrup, & the Tart Michigan Cherries & Walnuts.

The Key Lime Marmalade was especially good because after transporting the cupcakes in a car with a recently busted A/C :) , I stuck them in the freezer for about an hour or two before serving them, so the coolness & citrus flavor of the Key Lime Marmalade as a filling really exploded & came thru in your mouth.

Needless to say, my Father's Day Cupcake Tasting was a big success. Even my boyfriend's 11 year old daughter liked them & my boyfriend's Mom said it will have to become a tradition!

Hmm...wonder if this idea of mini Cupcake Tastings for dessert would catch on in restaurants? :D

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Hmm...wonder if this idea of mini Cupcake Tastings for dessert would catch on in restaurants? :)

I think a few have, but I can't remember exactly where. I want to say Birch & Barley, but couldn't find it on their site. Feel free to post a link to your pics - that would be neat to see.

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I think a few have, but I can't remember exactly where. I want to say Birch & Barley, but couldn't find it on their site. Feel free to post a link to your pics - that would be neat to see.

Really? Darn...and here I thought I came up with a cool new dessert idea...Doh! I've seen & had mini dessert shots/sundaes in restaurants, but had not seen or heard of cupcake tastings.

I just experimented with one of the leftover Dark Chocolate, Candied Ginger & Walnut cupcake & dusted it with Chinese All-Spice (instead of Cinnamon)...and WOW was that good! :)

I'll see if these leftovers are picture worthy and will post accordingly.

ETA: Forgot to add that the above cupcake was topped with a rich Cream Cheese Frosting...a yummy contrast and base for the dusting of Chinese All-Spice.

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My annual labor of love for a friend's 4th of July bash is mini cheesecakes and a sour cherry jam crostata. I'm using the goat cheese cheesecake from Ann Amernick's "The Art of the Dessert" on top of rounds cut from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Biscuit Roulade. Both of those got baked today for assembly tomorrow. The cheesecakes will be topped with raspberries for serving. I'm making the pastry for the crostata tonight and baking it tomorrow.

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Yesterday--too busy to post while I was making it.

black raspberry crumb cake

the recipe was from Dorie Greenspan's book, for blueberry crumb cake but she said that any berry except strawberries could be substituted. Kind of seed-y, but tasty. I've always thought that blueberries, blackberries and black raspberries taste better cooked than raw. It was a nice dessert last night, still warm, and was very good for breakfast, since it is a coffee cake, after all.

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Bourbon-peach hand pies. The dough is mostly butter with a bit of sour cream, so I didn't really know what to expect for this application, but they pies are flaky and crisp; and a great foil for the fresh peach filling.

Do you have a recipe for this that you can share? It sounds delicious.

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Just managed to wait the thirty minutes of cooling time for the chocolate babka from Ann Amernick's, The Art of the Dessert. I can't believe I have lived my life babka-less to this point. Yum. Amazing texture on the bread/cake and great chocolate flavor. My twisting technique needs some work, but it is still definitely not a lesser babka. :)

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